Travel Channel and NFL Partner on New TV Series, Pick a Single Team to Be Spotlighted

Travel Channel is working with the National Football League on a new television series that will focus on a team as it travels for its road games, Jon Lafayette reports in B&C. The show will spotlight the Cleveland Browns.

“NFL Road Tested: The Cleveland Browns” is set to premiere Dec. 4. The show, which will air at 10 p.m., will track the team’s visits to New York, Baltimore, Dallas, Oakland, Denver and Pittsburgh, the report notes.

The series is a co-production of NFL Films and RIVR Media.

“For Travel Channel, the opportunity to work with the most powerful force in television programming comes as it looks to replace its most prominent personality, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who has joined CNN,” the story reports. “The NFL programming is expected to appeal to Travel Channel’s male-skewing audience.”

The piece adds: “After the loss of Bourdain, Travel Channel re-signed Adam Richman, popular host of ‘Man v. Food’ and ‘Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America.’ Losing both Bourdain and Richman would have been difficult for both the network and its sponsors to swallow.”

Knoxville, Tenn.-based Scripps Networks Interactive, which owns Travel Channel, has been working on a rebuild for the network since acquiring it in 2009, the report notes. the Cleveland Browns’ new owner, Jimmy Haslam, is also from Knoxville.

In a statement, Haslam said: "This show will offer viewers a great perspective of the inner-workings of an NFL team and what it takes to support a team. With Travel Channel working alongside NFL Films and RIVR Media, we expect that this will be first-class production. We are excited about what this will mean to Northeast Ohio, the Browns and our fans."

The report notes: “NFL road trips are unique and the new series will provide an inside look at what it takes to move an entire team from city to city, including feeding, clothing and housing six tons of humanity. It will also look at how NFL stadiums prepare to deal with thousands of fans.”